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(From press release)
The University of California, Davis, today announced that along with Kindred Healthcare, it will construct and operate a second hospital on its downtown Sacramento campus to provide more inpatient rehabilitation services in Sacramento County. The facility will provide care for twice as many physical rehab patients as currently can be treated at UC Davis Medical Center. The $60 million hospital will create 200 new jobs, offer convenient care for local patients and families, and be located at Aggie Square, the university’s newly announced technology and innovation hub just south of the Medical Center.

“Aggie Square brings the university, industry and the community together to build for the future,” said UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May. “This new UC Davis hospital reflects that type of vital public-private partnership. It will include innovative technologies to help patients get back to their lives faster and healthier, provide opportunities for collaboration with biomedical research, and it will create new economic opportunities for the surrounding community.”

Kindred, a nationally known health care services company based in Louisville, Kentucky, will manage the day-to-day operations of the hospital, where physicians and clinical care teams will provide patients with leading-edge care. Physicians working at the new hospital will have privileges at UC Davis Health and utilize the facility to provide care for patients who have had surgery, but aren’t ready to return home yet.

Not only will this hospital more than double the capacity to meet the neurological treatment needs of the community, but it will provide an estimated $60 million in capital infusion for the local area and generate 200 new jobs in Sacramento.

To be known as the “UC Davis Rehabilitation Hospital,” the facility, with all private rooms, will offer rehabilitation treatments for patients recovering from conditions such as stroke, traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury.

State-of-the-art care

“We view our partnership to build and operate a new facility with UC Davis Health as an important way to address the growing need for inpatient rehabilitation services in the Sacramento area,” said Jason Zachariah, president of Kindred Rehabilitation Services, a division of Kindred that oversees 22 inpatient rehabilitation hospitals around the nation. “This is a quality-focused collaboration with a nationally recognized academic health care leader. By working together, we know we can deliver the kind of excellent care that improves patients’ lives and helps their families.”

The new hospital will be built on the site of a currently unused UC Davis building at 4875 Broadway that will be torn down. University and Kindred officials are now planning the construction project and hope to be providing patient care services by the latter part of 2020. It is being designed to continue and elevate state-of-the-art care, encourage research and discovery of new therapies, and develop best practices for the clinical approaches that post-acute care patients require.

“This is an important day for Sacramento, for UC Davis Health and for the neighborhoods surrounding UC Davis Medical Center,” said Mayor Darrell Steinberg. “Just a few short months ago, I joined Chancellor May, several of my elected colleagues and a number of community advocates for the Aggie Square announcement. Today, we’re seeing the first tangible step toward that vision. This rehabilitation hospital, and the investment from a national health care leader like Kindred, illustrates our goal of leveraging the many strengths of Sacramento as a catalyst for economic change, research innovation, and improving health for all.”

The mayor’s enthusiasm for the new facilities was echoed by Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), whose district includes the new hospital site.

“This proves yet again that Sacramento is full of innovation and collaborative energy. With the leadership of UC Davis and other strategic partners, Sacramento is committed to making intentional investments in our health care system that help meet the needs of our community. Establishing a new free-standing physical rehabilitation hospital in Sacramento County is something to be proud of,” Matsui said. “UC Davis has been a leader in the types of projects that can attract investment and partners from around the country. This hospital marks one of the first steps toward the development of Aggie Square, reflecting UC Davis’ progress towards providing expanded access to vital patient care while also contributing to a thriving community.”

Meeting community needs

Kindred and UC Davis Health officials said the new care facility will focus on adult patients. Inpatient rehabilitation will include physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech pathology services, which involve therapists, physicians and nurses helping patients with the restoration of their physical function and mobility as well as gain independence in everyday activities such self-care, home-making and work.

State Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), who is a former UC Davis Health pediatrician, also expressed enthusiasm for the project.

“As a physician, I have advocated for access to quality of care, including rehabilitation care and I am pleased that Chancellor May and UC Davis Health are working to bring more rehabilitation services to the Sacramento community. Combined with the promise of Aggie Square, clinical care and innovation opportunities will provide new, high quality jobs that truly benefit our community and region.”

All jobs related to the current rehabilitation facilities at UC Davis Medical Center will be maintained, with no positions eliminated by the move to the new hospital. The current rehabilitation team — nurses, physicians, physical therapists and others — will be trained and reassigned to other positions within the hospital. Physicians can obtain privileges at the new hospital, and those employees who want to continue providing rehabilitation treatment and care in an inpatient setting may choose to work directly for the new hospital.

UC Davis Medical Center is closing its current rehabilitation facilities, which are scattered across six areas in two buildings, to comply with the state’s 2020 seismic safety requirements. Being able to meet the earthquake safety mandate by building an entirely new facility was good news for another elected leader whose district also includes the university’s Sacramento campus and surrounding neighborhoods.

“The UC Davis Rehabilitation Hospital is another win for the Stockton Boulevard corridor and the City of Sacramento,” said Assemblyman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento). “This visionary partnership that UC Davis Health established with Kindred Healthcare enables the health system to rapidly meet the patient care needs of our community as well as efficiently comply with our state’s critical seismic safety requirements for hospitals like UC Davis Medical Center.”

20 thoughts on “UC Davis Announces New Second Hospital on University’s Sacramento Campus”

This is a very interesting development. I do not know enough about Kindred Healthcare to have an opinion about this particular partnership. But I am very excited about expanding the rehabilitative services of UCDMC for the community. This will meet a very real need and the location seems to be appropriate.

Tia: I agree. As noted, it will be adjacent to UCD’s existing medical center, on UCD’s own land. An existing, unused building will be torn down. Local and state politicians are taking steps to help fund it.

Interesting enough, even some who live in Sacramento are concerned about the impact on surrounding neighborhoods:

“Some black residents are particularly angry about having to move out of Oak Park and into cheaper neighborhoods further away.”

“In his State of the City address, Steinberg floated ideas about cracking down on rent gouging, essentially banning landlords from rapidly raising prices to force residents to leave. More recently, he’s talked about setting up a fund for rental assistance. That way, as many as 1,800 families on the verge of ending up on the street would be able to secure a small grant or loan to make ends meet.”

And again, this hospital (and whatever else is built on campus) won’t bring in one cent in property taxes. The “economic benefit” will be spread throughout the region.

Also, despite what you might read on the Vanguard, there is no way that this hospital would have been proposed in Davis, even if the local “growth advocates” have their way. The Vanguard article above notes that this new hospital is essentially an expansion of services that are already provided at UCD’s adjacent medical center.

I recall reading another article which states that this service will likely be increased, as Aggie Square is developed. In any case, the jobs created (in Sacramento) will be available to “commuters” from Davis and elsewhere.

Ron, the Bee article does not reflect the talk I hear in Oak Park, where most of the folks I’ve talked to are excited about the new job opportunities. I find it doubtful that any “gentrification” will occur in Oak Park anytime soon and Tahoe park is already pretty gentrified , but we will have to see what happens.

And yes, when I was little, parents took me to the old State Fair… we stopped at Nut Tree on the way there, and Milk Farm on the way back… still remember the latter for its chocolate shake (or was it a malt?)… it was a long drive from the Bay Area…

Many people in Davis may be unaware that an Oak Park Redevelopment area was established many years ago and successfully managed by the former Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA). A number of important redevelopment projects were successfully implemented. The ultimate goal of this successful redevelopment area was exactly what is happening now: stimulating and attracting new projects that will create jobs, investment and new economic opportunities. The fact that the new hospital will be the first project at Aggie Square is a solid indication that the goals of the redevelopment designation and the aspirations of Oak Park residents are now coming to fruition. It will be a regional resource that will provide benefits over a wide area. (Full disclosure, I was a redevelopment manager for SHRA 1999-2002, working in Sacramento’s north city area, which included the Alkali Flat, Del Paso Heights and North Sacramento redevelopment areas.)

Some observers have lamented UCD’s Aggie Square development. I view it as a good thing because many of the activities and facilities to be developed at the site will have synergy with the medical center. And, Sacramento–being a much larger city than Davis–is better situated to accommodate the traffic and additional demand for housing and services that will accompany Aggie Square.

” . . . and the aspirations of Oak Park residents are now coming to fruition.”

I have yet to see where new developments (which might require substantial education/experience to actually land jobs) “benefits” those who may not already have such requirements. (Nearby property owners might benefit.)

The article I cited and posted above references this concern, and also references the “refugees” from the Bay Area/Silicon Valley who are moving to Sacramento (which facilitates further increases in rent).

In fact, California (as a whole) is losing lower-wage workers to other states, while gaining higher-wage workers. (Overall, there’s a net outflow of people leaving the state.)

Jerry: That’s actually a different topic. (I was discussing workers, not those receiving assistance.) It’s possible that what you and I have noted are both true.

In any case, here’s one of the articles (from the “allegedly-irrelevant” Davis Enterprise) which supports what I noted (that lower-income workers are leaving California, and are being replaced by higher-income workers):

Side note to Howard: There are a lot of folks (including both you and I – as I recall from your comments) who relocated from the Bay Area to Davis. I suspect that this applies to a lot of commenters and residents of Davis. Davis is still very inexpensive, compared to much of the Bay Area.

Howard: Actually you confirmed that again, above. (And – it was a chocolate “shake” at the Nut Tree – the best anywhere from my childhood perspective.) Perhaps partly influenced by the lack of A/C in the family car, at that time. Combined with traveling back the length of the valley at times, from camping trips.

The Nut Tree also provided a signal that we were close to home (and the “blessed summertime fog” influence).

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